Flashpoint Chronicles
by The-Sarcasmo
Summary: When Barry created the Flashpoint timeline, Central City wasn't the only place to be effected. These stories explain what happened in each different show of the Arrowverse during the three months Barry lived his life. And how much worse things could have gotten if he had stayed any longer. Stories for Supergirl, Arrow, Vixen, Legends of Tomorrow, and concluding in the Flash.
1. Supergirl

"Keerah!" Cat Grant screeched from her desk.

Winn watched as Cat came out to dramatically look at Kara's empty desk. Cat then scanned the floor to look for her assistant. The entire staff at the executive floor of CatCo Worldwide Media ducked their heads to avoid being given whatever demoralizing task she had in store. She locked eyes with Winn and approached him as he desperately tried to think of some excuse for his friend's hundredth absence. You would think he would have gotten more skilled at coming up with them, but Cat was so cold hearted that she only found one thing to be excusable; and there were literally only so many times he could say Kara was cramping from that-time-of-the-month.

"Winn, where's Keerah?" Cat demanded with a piercing gaze.

"Well, you see...she text me this morning that-" Winn stammered.

"And don't tell me she's cramping again for the third time this month."

"Uh...car trouble?"

"That's preposterous! With what I pay her she could never afford a car. You know what, I don't care. If she's not here in the next five minutes it won't matter anyways."

"Why is that?"

"Because she will no longer have a job. I thought my indignant tone made that implication very clear."

Cat went back into her office without another word. Winn let out a low groan as he picked up his phone and called Kara.

" _Hi! You've reached Kara Danvers. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave me a message I'll get back to you as soon as I can. [BEEP!]"_

"Kara, where are you?" he whispered. "Cat is angry– well, angrier than usual– that you're not here yet. Just get here as you get this message...I hope you're okay."

Winn got up from from his desk and made his way towards Jimmy's office to see if maybe he had heard from her today. He took the long route along the windows so he could include a stop at the break room to pour himself his 2nd cup of coffee. He yawned as he took in the birds' eye view of National City, and then his jaw snapped shut in surprise as he witnessed a streak of blue lightning race along the expressway.

 _What's The Flash doing here? Did Barry get himself into trouble again?_ Winn thought.

That's when he heard the sonic boom as Kara – or rather Supergirl – flew into the air. Only from what Winn could see it wasn't a controlled flight. Almost like she had been knocked into the air by The Flash.

He clenched his jaw as he saw Supergirl smash into the tenth floor of one of the surrounding skyscrapers. Winn took off running for the elevators and dialed the DEO.

 _This can't be good._

* * *

"I don't have time for this," Kara groaned as looked up at the time on the bank's digital billboard sign. It was 8:13am – and a cool 72 degrees.

"What's the matter Superfreak? Got a date or something?" Livewire bantered.

"No, I'm late for- never mind that. How do you keep getting out, anyways?"

"What can I say? I guess you really can't keep lightning in a bottle!"

Livewire cast a bolt of lightning at the heroine. Supergirl flew into the air to avoid the attack and used her super breath to knock her opponent closer to the fire hydrant at the edge of the block. Supergirl then used heat vision to knock off the top of the hydrant and sent a geyser of water into the air, soaking the villain.

"Not again!" Livewire crowed.

The surrounding crowd applauded Supergirl's rapid victory just as the police rolled up in time to slap handcuffs on Livewire.

"You got it from here?" Kara asked one of the officers.

"Yeah, thanks again Supergirl," the officer replied.

 _Good, because I need to get to work before Cat fires me_ , Kara thought.

Just as she turned to the direction of CatCo she saw a flicker of light, followed by the familiar _whoosh_ of a speedster.

"Why hello there Flash," Supergirl smiled as she turned back around, and then gasped in horror.

Rather than seeing the Scarlet Speedster, she instead saw a horrific figure clad in a black suit with sparks of blue lightning all over his body.

"Sorry. The Flash isn't available," the figure spoke rather ghastly.

"Who are you?" Kara demanded.

"I'm this Earth's new ruler. But for now, you can call me Zoom."

"You're from another Earth, aren't you..."

"I see you're familiar with the multiverse."

"Yeah. Well, since you're new in town let me explain something. I'm Supergirl, and I'm the protector of this city. Why don't you tell me how you got here so I can send you back the way you came."

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

There was a sudden flash of light and then he was gone.

 _He's faster than Barry. Way faster._

The policemen suddenly dropped and Kara noticed Livewire was gone. Either she ran, or Zoom took her; however, the injured police officers where her first priority. Kara knelt down to check the officers, and grimaced at how contorted their necks were.

"Oh no!" Kara cried.

She sped to each of the officers and confirmed the same thing. They were all dead.

Kara tapped her earpiece to activate her comms.

"Alex, are you there?" Kara uttered.

" _Yeah, Kara. What's going on?_ " Alex replied over the radio.

"I need you to get Hank out here. There's a speedster running loose in the city."

" _Did what's his name get himself stuck out here again_?"

"No, this guy...Zoom...He killed...Just tell Hank to get out here _now_."

" _Oh God...Okay, we'll be right out-_ "

"No! You stay put! He's different than anything we've faced before."

" _But I can help._ "

"Not this time."

Supergirl turned off the comms and flew into the air. She focused her attention on any sonic booms or cries for help. There were screams happening all over the city, with police band filled with reports of officers down. They were all happening so fast, it seemed like it was coming from everywhere at once.

Finally, she spotted the blue lightning streak cutting across the central park towards a pair of police officers at a hot dog stand. She swooped down and rammed Zoom with her shoulder, knocking him off course.

"You again," Zoom spat. "I was going to save you for last. But I guess you leave me no choice."

"You're not going to hurt anyone else!" Kara roared.

"Is that so?"

Zoom then charged directly for Supergirl, and she had difficulty keeping track of the distance. She planted her feet into the ground, ready to use her strength and invulnerability to act as a literal roadblock for the sinister speedster. Zoom was directly in front of her in what felt no time at all.

Instead of feeling a sudden impact, she felt an odd sensation; like a strong gust of wind not only over her body, but through her body. Then, she didn't see Zoom at all anymore.

"What the-"

A sudden scream, and she turned and saw Zoom was holding one of the police officers up by the neck in one hand, and his hand was through the chest of the other. Kara screamed in protest as Zoom snapped the neck of the officer he held and casted both of them aside. Zoom then used his blood soaked hand to remove his mask to reveal what Kara would have considered to be a rather handsome man under different circumstances.

"Why did you do that? This fight is between you and me!" Kara asked.

"You heroes never learn do you," Hunter Zolomon scoffed. "There is no such thing as fair. Only the ones in power can set the rules; and that's no longer you."

Another flash of light and Zoom was gone once again. But how? She was Supergirl, the fastest person on the planet, next to her cousin. How could she be so powerless to stop him?

 _No, don't let him get to you,_ Kara thought. _Just stay focused, and you'll find some way to beat him. You always do._

Supergirl flew once again and scanned the city. From the small interactions she had with Zoom, she could tell that he was arrogant enough to stay in plain sight. Or maybe it was that he was sadistic enough to make sure she could see his acts of terrorism.

There! On the expressway! She could just barely make out the streak of lightning. Supergirl flew down to the ground as Zoom charged at her directly once again. She waited for him to phase through her and so she could then quickly turn around and use her heat vision while his back was turned.

 _BAM!_

Supergirl went flying through the air, too stunned to be able to stop herself.

 _CRASH!_

Supergirl groaned as she slowly got to her feet, broken glass sliding off her cape. She was in some sort of office building, most of the occupants were running away while a small fraction rushed up to check on her.

"Are you okay, Supergirl?" a young woman asked.

"Yes, I'll be okay. Is anyone injured?"

"No, thankfully!" the young woman replied. "We were all gathered at the corner conference room to celebrate a coworker's birthday when you crashed the party. No pun intended."

"Tell everyone to stay inside the building. Preferably away from the windows. It's not safe outside right now."

"Sure thing. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, thank you."

The two women waved goodbye to each other and Supergirl flew off once again. As she gained altitude she was joined by Hank Henshaw– or rather, the martian J'onn J'onzz.

"I'm so glad to see you!" Kara exclaimed.

"What is going on?" J'onn inquired.

"There's some crazy speedster running around. We need to find some way to trip him up and stop him for good."

"Can't we just corner him?"

"He can somehow move through solid objects. I don't know what we can do to stop him short of..."

"I think I might have a way. I just need to get in front of him," J'onn proposed.

"I don't think that'll be a problem," Kara shot back.

The two heroes land in front of the streak of blue lightning as Zoom tore through the city towards the police headquarters. Supergirl then leapt forward with her own speed, and pounded the ground with her strength to make Zoom lose his footing. Zoom easily leapt across the large crater her fists had created, but this meant that he was no longer accelerating. She used her super breath, but instead of blowing she inhaled deeply since he had already gone past her.

Since Zoom was still in the air, he was pulled back and lost his footing as he landed. He stumbled for just a second, but that was all the time J'onn needed. The martian grabbed onto Zoom and looked him in the eye, and the villain suddenly collapsed.

"Finally!" Kara exhaled in relief. "What exactly did you do to him anyways?"

"I used my psychic abilities to convince his mind that he was asleep, which rendered him unconscious," J'onn explained.

"When you say psychic abilities...does that mean you can do, like, mind reading too?"

"Yes, but don't worry. It doesn't work on Kryptonians."

"Oh good! But that's not what I had in mind. I guess that means you really can't read my mind, ha!"

"What exactly did you have in mind, Kara," J'onn sighed as he gave her an exasperated look.

"What I meant was, can you read his mind to find out why he is here and how he ended up on _this_ Earth?"

"Do you mean that in some kind of existential sense?"

"No, more like a multiple universes kind of sense."

J'onn decided not to ask anything further and knelt down to place his hands on Zoom's head. He closed his eyes, however Kara was able to see them moving rapidly underneath the eyelids. J'onn then opened his eyes and stood up to face Kara.

"It looks like he really is from another Earth," J'onn began. "He was trying to steal speed from The Flash of a different Earth, someone named Barry Allen. But somehow, he was thrown violently out of that Earth and into some kind of breach, almost as if time and space itself had cast him out. He has no idea how he ended up here or what could have caused such an anomaly."

"You sure it was Barry Allen that he was fighting?" Kara entreated.

"Yes. His thoughts were consumed by his goal of stealing Mr. Allen's speed; as if his life depended on it."

"Stay close to him and make sure he remains unconscious. As much as I hate the idea of keeping someone comatose, he's just too dangerous to even chance it. Did the DEO ever install one of those cells Barry had designed for the metahumans on his Earth?"

"I'll make sure our guest is put in there right away."

Both of them took flight, each holding on to a limb of their prisoner to ensure he could not escape.

 _I wonder what is going on back on Earth-1?_ Kara wondered.


	2. Arrow

The Arrow, or rather the Green Arrow as he was now calling himself, was currently on the hunt for some mysterious new group causing havoc all over town. Well, every other villain they've faced has been mysterious one way or another. But this one seemed to be especially tight lipped, and none of the other snitches in town had a clue where they came from or why they were here.

Felicity Smoak leaned back in her chair as she sipped pink lemonade from a Big Belly Burger Styrofoam cup. All was quiet for right now, but she knew any second Oliver would be calling in through the comms asking for her to hack something or another. Until then, she simply stared at the salmon ladder and let herself get lost in her memories of watching Oliver climb up and down...

" _Felicity...Felicity...Felicity!"_ Oliver shouted.

The shouting of her name over the loudspeaker caused Felicity to nearly fall out of her chair. She sat up in attention and rolled back over to her workstation.

"Yep...yeah….Read you loud and clear."

" _What were you doing, why didn't you answer me earlier?_ "

"Uh..." Felicity spun in her chair to give one last look of longing to the salmon ladder. "A little day dreaming about your body- I mean daydreaming never hurt your body….Never. Hurt. Anybody."

" _I need you to hack the traffic cameras and help me keep track of a freight truck that's leaving Pier 52._ "

"Aye-aye Captain." Felicity denotes with a poor pirate accent and starts typing away as fast she can.

* * *

Oliver Queen let out a huge sigh of annoyance as he turned on his motorcycle. He wanted to hurry and get a move on should Felicity have trouble keeping track of their only lead on the new players in town.

"She always ends up putting her foot in her mouth whenever she talks to you," Laurel Lance observed as she mounted behind Oliver on his motorcycle.

"It seems that way," Oliver stated.

"You know she's only like that because she has a crush on you, right?"

"And?"

"And...do I have anything to worry about?" Laurel asked.

"Honey, put on your helmet so we can go catch up with the bad guys in the truck carrying a top secret weapon."

Laurel looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and crossed her arms.

"Answer the question, Ollie."

"No, of course not!"

"Uh-huh," Laurel teased, smiling as she finally put on her helmet.

She affectionately gave his helmet a light tap using her own as he revved the engine. The motorcycle roared as they sped off after the truck. The engine made it harder to hear, but Oliver could still make out the directions Felicity was feeding him over the comms. He made an effort to remain a couple of blocks back to keep from tipping off the driver, hoping the traffic cameras he helped to install as mayor were worth the strain on the city's budget.

Not too surprisingly, the truck entered the still decimated Glades. While Oliver and his predecessors made promises to restore the Glades, the fact of the matter was the damage done to the neighborhood simply made it too expensive to revitalize the area; especially with all the other attacks on the city that had occurred over the last 4 years. As a result, there were plenty of abandoned buildings to hide all sorts of illegal activities. In a way, Malcolm Merlyn ended up completing his Undertaking after all.

There were no traffic cameras for this area, and Oliver had to speed up and follow the truck the old fashioned way at risk of being seen, or in the case of a motorcycle, heard.

After a few turns the truck pulled into a street that was blocked off by a pile of debris. Oliver passed up the turn and parked the motorcycle in a nearby alleyway. The vigilante couple dismounted, and stealthed their way back to the street. The truck was still there, engine running but unmoving.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Laurel wondered aloud.

Oliver nodded his head in agreement. He knew a trap when he saw one.

"Speedy, what's your ETA?" Oliver spoke into the comms.

" _I'm less than 5 minutes away_ ," Roy Harper responded.

"Be ready to come in hot."

" _Got it!_ "

"Ollie, what are you planning?" Laurel asked.

"To spring the trap of course," Oliver smiled.

Without another word, the Green Arrow broke out of hiding and marched his way up to the truck. Black Canary followed closely behind, her eyes darting all over the place in an attempt to anticipate where the attack will come from.

The passenger door of the freight truck opened up, and the loud thump of combat boots echoed into the night as a man clad in a long black leather coat descended the steps. Small glints of metal covered his whole torso.

Upon closer inspection, the two vigilantes saw that the pieces of metal were boomerangs.

"Well, if it isn't the crime fighting couple Green Arrow and Black Canary," Digger Harkness boomed. "He was right about you. He said you would arrogantly walk into a trap."

"That's because we're not afraid of a punk like you," Black Canary scoffed with a voice distorter.

"Hand over the weapon," Green Arrow demanded in a likewise fashion.

"Oh you mean what's in the truck?" Captain Boomerang sneered as he waltzed up to the cargo door. "Sure thing."

He pulled up the cargo door, and took a step back. As did Oliver and Laurel.

"Oh no," Oliver breathed.

The truck was empty save for one person laying on the floor bound and unconscious. Thea Queen.

Oliver drew his bow with lightning speed and aimed at Harkness.

"Let her go, now!" He ordered.

"And he was right about how mad you would be, too!" Harkness teased. "God, he really knows what makes you tick! Who is she to you? Some side chick you like to tap when your metahuman girlfriend gets too loud for you?"

"You heard what he said!" Laurel shouted. "Let her go!"

"Relax! I said I was going to hand over the weapon, remember? Well, go ahead. Take it."

Harkness gestured with his arm towards Thea.

"What are you talking about?" Oliver asked.

"She's the weapon that you came racing on your motorbike to destroy."

"What did you do to her?"

" _I_ didn't do anything," Harkness mocked. "But my mate Prometheus on the other hand...well...he gave your girl here a shot of some Japanese miracle drug or something."

"Mirakuru," Laurel gasped.

"That's it! She's a smart one, Greenie. I can see why you keep her as your main chick."

"Black Canary, go get Thea. I'll keep him covered," Oliver said.

"Right," Laurel acknowledged as she started a slow approach.

There was a boom of laughter from Harkness.

"No need for all that. We were just leaving," Harkness informed.

With a wave of his hand a van pulled up alongside the truck. Harkness jumped into the van and gave the two vigilantes a wave as he slid the door closed. Oliver kept his bow trained on the van as it drove past them out of the decrepit street.

"Speedy, I need you to follow a white van heading west on Jefferson," Oliver relayed over the comms.

" _Do they still have the weapon?_ " Roy inquired.

Oliver stared at his sister as he and Laurel approached the truck. She was drenched in sweat and was breathing rapidly.

"It's unclear right now. Keep your distance and report back wherever they end up."

"O _kay_ _._ "

Oliver dropped his bow and vaulted into the truck container and put two fingers on her neck to check her pulse.

"How is she doing?" Laurel called out as she climbed up the step-ladder.

"She's on fire!" Oliver stammered.

It was taking everything in him not to cradle his sister in a paralyzing panic. The thought of never seeing her again… he didn't even want to think about it. Right now he needed to stay focused and get her to a hospital. He knelt down to pick up his sister.

Suddenly, Thea's eyes opened up as Oliver began to lift her, and she let out a scream so intense her vocal cords were almost certainly torn apart. He dropped her out of surprise, and immediately tried to coax her to calm down.

"Thea, it's going to be okay. We're taking you to-"

The ropes binding Thea tore under her now superhuman strength. She grabbed her brother by the throat and lifted him up with one arm. Laurel gasped as she ran up to try and pry the thin girl's fingers off of Oliver's windpipe, but the grip only seemed to get tighter.

"Thea, it's okay!" Laurel entreated as she removed her mask. "It's me, Laurel. And that's your brother, Oliver! We're here to help you!"

Thea sat up, still holding Oliver with a blank look on her face.

 _She doesn't recognize us. The mirakuru is already messing with her mind just like it did with Slade…_

Laurel struck Thea in the arm to break her grip, but it felt like punching a wall. Laurel yelped and held her hand in pain. She once again tried to appeal to what was left of the little girl she watched grow up.

"Stop it! You're going to kill him!"

The young woman turned living weapon watched unsympathetically as Oliver's face began to turn blue from the lack of oxygen. Laurel had only one option left. She pressed on Oliver's earbuds to activate the noise dampener. She felt the slight shake of Oliver's head as he caught on to what she was going to do.

"Sorry, Thea," Laurel lamented.

She took in a breath, and let out a loud shriek that was known throughout Star City as the Canary Cry.

The weapon dropped Green Arrow and used both her hands to cover her ears. Black Canary dragged Green Arrow as she felt the last of her breath go through her enhanced vocal cords.

Green Arrow stumbled to the ground and Black Canary closed the cargo container, latching it to make sure the weapon could not open it from the inside.

"We...need to take...her to...the...hospital," Oliver coughed.

He placed his hand on the side of the truck and managed to take two steps towards the driver seat before collapsing in a coughing fit. Oliver winced in pain and leaned his head against the container wall.

"Ollie, you need to take it easy" Laurel suggested. "She may have just crushed your windpipe. I'll drive the truck-"

 _ **Crash!**_

A tiny fist burst through the container wall made of one inch thick steel as if it were tissue. Laurel pulled Oliver away from the container just as another fist burst through where his head had been resting. Laurel watched in awe as the two hands bent the steel to make a hole. Thea crawled out of the container, the razor sharp edges shredding her clothes but only superficially scratching her skin.

Laurel propped Oliver up as they continued to make their way to the truck cab; it was their only way to escape now given his condition.

"Get in!" Laurel ushered Oliver as she threw open the cab door open.

With a painful groan, Oliver slowly climbed, but not fast enough. Thea was quickly closing in on them, her basic instinct to attack anything that moves her only drive. Laurel shoved Oliver unceremoniously into the cab and then did another Canary Cry to deter the weapon from following.

Thea knelt down and covered her ears once again, but did not go flying back as most victims of the Cry did. And she did not remain down for very long either; her already shattered ear drums reducing the impact of Black Canary's sonic attack.

But it was just enough for Laurel to jump into the cab, silently thank her paranoid father teaching her to drive a stick "just in case," and shove the gear into reverse. She floored the gas pedal and the smell of burning rubber quickly filled the chamber. There was also a bump as Laurel ran over Oliver's motorcycle, and she prayed he didn't notice lest he shatter what's left of his windpipe yelling at her.

Once at the intersection, she put the truck into first gear and took off towards the hospital.

" _Hey, the truck just came back in view of the traffic cameras,_ " Felicity announced over comms. _"Black Canary, is that you driving? You don't have your mask on!"_

"Thea is infected with the mirakuru!" Laurel explained. "I took my mask off to show her it was me and not an enemy but she still almost choked Oliver to death. I must've forgotten to put it back on."

" _Oh, my God! Where is she now?_ "

"She's still loose in the Glades. Ollie and I barely made it out with our lives. I'm taking him to the hospital. Can you call our friend over there and have her meet us?"

" _Of course! I'll also erase the footage of you driving a semi with_ _out a mask."_

"Thanks."

Laurel glanced over to check on Oliver, who looked like he was struggling to catch every single breath.

 _Just hang in there…_ she thought.

* * *

" _Welcome back to Channel 52 Nightly News. Reports continue to pour in about a yet to be identified young woman who has been wreaking havoc near the Glades. Witnesses report the young woman has flipped over vehicles, ransacked businesses, and damaged homes in ways similar to what was seen in the attack led by Slade Wilson over two years ago."_

" _There have been no casualties so far, however 4 people have been seriously injured with broken bones and other impact injuries, including Star City's newly elected mayor, Oliver Queen. SCPD is encouraging all citizens to remain indoors and to report any suspicious activity right away."_

"Okay, that's enough news for you," Laurel insisted as she turned off the hospital room TV.

"I need to know what's going on," Oliver objected hoarsely.

"No...What you need to do is focus on recovering."

"Every moment I waste in here is another moment my sister is out there, being influenced by the mirakuru to do things she would never do."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Laurel sighed. "Not every bad thing that happens in this city is your fault."

"Still throwing yourself pity parties, Oliver?" The question came from a woman's voice.

Laurel turned to face the woman. She instinctively grabbed a magazine from the nearby side-table and rolled it up tightly behind her back. It wasn't her usual tonfa, but it would have to do.

She saw a woman with short hair standing in the doorway. The woman unconsciously fiddled with a necklace which seemed to shine a somewhat unnatural amount.

"Mari?" Laurel asked in surprise.

"Hey Laurel."

The two women hugged in greeting now that it was confirmed their friend was indeed standing before them.

"So what happened to him? What new bad guy are you guys fighting?"

"His sister actually did this to him. She was taken hostage and injected with a Japanese serum called mirakuru, which makes you super strong but also messes with your mind."

"Oh God, I'm sorry," Mari expressed her sympathies.

"What are you doing here?" Oliver wondered.

"That my friend, is a long story..." Mari trailed off.


	3. Vixen

"Thank you for meeting with me Dr. Macalester. I hope I'm not taking too much of your time," a blond haired man said with a British accent, eagerly shaking the professor's hand.

"Not at all. I'm always happy to chat with a fellow archaeologist," Dr. Macalester replied.

"I'm not a real archaeologist, it's simply a hobby of mine," the blond man downplayed.

"Nonsense. If I wasn't luck enough to find a donor for my last expedition then I would be saying the same thing."

"Well, I appreciate the compliment."

Dr. Macalester gestured for the blonde man to take a seat as he slid into his own chair behind the desk. The blond man gave compliment to the various artifact decorations scattered throughout the small office, and they each gave anecdotes of what they thought the artifact represented to their respective societies.

"I really wanted to attend your talk about the Anansi Totems, but unfortunately I was very much out of the country searching for my own artifact and missed it," the blond man said.

"Ah yes! My latest and, dare I say, greatest expedition I've taken yet."

"Congratulations on locating one of the totems. I'm sure that was no easy feat."

"You have no idea! Most of the records are simply information passed down verbally from one generation to the next. European slave trade along with century of colonization have unfortunately caused a great loss of knowledge and cultural treasures."

"Did you ever find any leads to where the other totems may be?" the blond man inquired.

"There have been some rumors, but with my funding and time constraints I was really only able to locate the one. But I'm sure with time these artifacts will turn up and be contributed to museums so their stories can be shared with the world."

"Well, from what I have heard, they are more than just stories."

The blond man studied Dr. Macalester's face closely, looking for any hint of recognition of what he was implying.

"You're right," Dr. Macalester stated with a blank expression. "They're really more like legends, aren't they? Warriors with mythical powers granted to them by the totem...they're the equivalent of today's comic book heroes."

"So you don't think there is any truth to what these – legends – say about granting the wearer abilities?"

"Of course not! What would make you suggest such a thing?"

"Well, there have been eye witness accounts the Detroit Fire was started by a man wielding the power of one of the totems. The fire totem, obviously."

"Don't you think information like that would be all over the news?" Dr. Macalester dismissed. "I mean, magical items wouldn't be so far fetched in today's world of metahumans and the like. What reason would people have in covering up something like that?"

The blond man continued to stare at the professor intently.

"Perhaps," he finally emitted.

"Besides, if the power of the totems were real, I would be the first one to shout it from the rooftops."

"Very well, then," the blond man glanced at his watch. "I suppose I must be going. It was a pleasure to finally meet you Dr. Macalester."

"Likewise, Mr. Albert."

"Please, call me Julian."

The two men stood up and shook hands. Dr. Macalester ushered the man to the door and gave one last final wave before shutting the door. He locked it immediately and went back to his desk, reaching for the phone before he stopped himself.

 _That man_ _knows more than he should; for all I know he just used this visit to plant some sort of bug or something,_ Dr. Macalester thought.

Rather than risk any sort of electronic communication, he grabbed his tweed jacket from the back of his chair and went out the door to talk Mari in person.

* * *

"What the hell are you doing here so early?" Mari yawned at him from her doorway.

She was wearing a slightly revealing tank top and boxer briefs, which left Dr. Macalester too flustered to respond.

"Uh...I..." he stammered.

"For crying out loud," Mari rolled her eyes.

The door closed in the professor's face and a minute later opened to a less revealed Mari in a orange blouse and black jeans.

"Better?" Mari asked, opening the door wide enough for him to enter.

"Thank you," Dr. Macalester murmured on his way inside.

The professor glanced around the room and noted the sparse furnishings. The walls were bare of any sort of pictures, paintings, or posters. The furniture merely consisted of a sofa and a TV being elevated by a pair of milk crates.

"Did you just move in?" Dr. Macalester asked.

"About six months ago; I've never really been the type to set down strong roots. I used to move around a lot," Mari confessed.

"What changed?"

"I did. Well, I guess I should say the totem changed me," Mari answered, subconsiously touching her necklace. "Once I was given this gift and learned that there were others like my sister or Eshu who wanted to use if for their own selfish reasons, I realized I would be just like them if I didn't try and do something to help others. Detroit was the only place I stayed long enough to really call home, so I chose it as my village."

"I suppose I feel the same way too. I always had trouble feeling like I fit in my own time. That's why I've always had a strong fascination with the past; like somehow I belong there."

Mari let out a long sigh and plopped into the sofa, laying down to where there was no room for her guest to sit down.

"Did you wake me up just to talk about how screwed up we are? Because my night job makes me too tired for all that this early in the morning."

"Actually, your night job is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about," Dr. Macalester divulged. "I just had a gentleman in my office that was asking about the totems. He seemed extremely interested in where they were located and if they really did imbue the wearer powers."

"So what?" Mari breathed.

"So...the last two people to ask for the totems seemed to have some sort of nefarious agenda," Dr. Macalester retorted.

"I asked you about my totem when I first learned about it's powers, and I didn't have any 'nefarious agenda' now did I?"

"He knew that the Eshu was wielding the fire totem, despite the pains Felicity took to remove any footage of the totem being used."

"What kind of guy was he? A warlord? A rich benefactor who wanted to fund your next expedition at the cost of an innocent woman being kidnapped?"

Mari shot daggers with her eyes at Dr. Macalester, who simply cleared his throat to deflect the criticism of how they first met.

"He said he was an amateur archaeologist who missed my original lecture on the totems," he faltered.

"You see? He's just another geek who gets his rocks off by learning about African history," Mari dismissed.

As if on cue, there was a loud _crash_ as something was hurled through the apartment window. Upon closer inspection Mari noticed it was a cylinder, with smoke pouring out of it.

 _A smoke bomb!_ She thought.

 **Boom!**

The other half of the cylinder burst open and smoke filled the room instantaneously, causing both Mari and Dr. Macalester to cough. Another _crash,_ this time from the front door as whoever was attacking burst into the room.

A hand was placed on Mari's arm as someone tried to restrain her. An ethereal purple bear formed all around her as she activated the power of the totem, and she pulled her arm back with enough strength to send her would-be attacker flying across the room. A ethereal purple condor filled the room and flapped it's wings, pushing most of the smoke out of the window.

The lone intruder struggled to return to his feet, and with the smoke cleared the professor was able to identify the man.

"Julian..." Dr. Macalester started.

The blond man raised a gun and pointed it at Dr. Macalester.

"Thank you for leading me to the spirit totem, professor," Julian Albert sneered.

"Drop your weapon or I'll-" Vixen postured.

"Or you'll get the professor killed. I know you may be powerful enough to not get hurt; but _him_ on the other hand," Julian pulled back the hammer on the weapon to accentuate his point.

"What do you want?" Vixen snarled.

"I want you to hand over that totem," Julian demanded.

"Why does everyone want this damn pendant?"

"Don't give it to him, Mari!" Dr. Macalester shouted.

"You hear that? Doc says not to give it to you. Now what do you want to do?"

"I will kill him," Julian threatened.

"Do it and see what happens," Vixen challenged.

Vixen's eyes glowed purple as the ethereal forms of several large animals surrounded her. Julian took a step back, a mixture of fear and awe splayed across his face.

"I'm sorry, professor."

"No!" Vixen charged with the speed of a cheetah.

A shot rang out, deafening all other senses as Vixen ran for the professor. But there was nothing she could do to stop it.

The professor let out a scream of pain as he dropped to the floor. Mari loomed over the professor to assess the damage as he continued to moan in pain. Blood flowed out of a wound in his gut, but she took the flood of swear words out of his mouth as a sign that it was not fatal.

Given that the professor was not dying that very moment, Vixen turned around to begin her counterattack; however Julian was nowhere to be seen. Even though she wanted to give chase, she knew that the earlier the professor received medical attention, the better his chances were.

"Damn it!" Vixen swore as she called for an ambulance.

* * *

Oliver Queen and Laurel Lance had grim looks on their face as Mari finished recounting her story.

"Is the professor okay?" Laurel asked.

"Yes," Mari answered. "He lost a lot of blood, but the doctors say that he should make a full recovery in a few months."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Me too," Mari affirmed. "Anyways, I asked Felicity to do some digging and she found out Julian Albert was here in Star City. He most likely found the same information my sister did about the Water totem, but he might not know that it was destroyed in the fight with Eshu."

"I would offer to help, Mari, but we have a situation of our own to deal with," Oliver informed hoarsely.

"I understand," Mari said. "I just came by to let you know that I will be running around in your backyard for awhile."

"I'm sure Felicity could continue helping you with any logistical information you might need," Oliver offered.

"Yes! She's been a big help already."

The group fell into an awkward silence, as the couple felt shame for not being able to help and Mari for having been turned away.

"So...I'll go ahead and let you get some rest," Mari supposed. "Is it okay if I crash at the lair?"

"It's not a la-" Oliver grunted.

"Of course," Laurel interrupted, glaring at Oliver.

"Thanks."

She stepped outside and shut the door behind her. She closed her eyes and let out a breath she wasn't even aware she was holding.

 _It's not their fault they can't help you_ , Mari thought. _They have their own battles they need to fight; and I have mine._

A loud buzz filled the hallway while the PA system was activated, jolting Mari to open her eyes. A tired voice called out a doctor's name through the speakers, and Mari waited until she caught her breath again. She dusted herself off and began the short trek to Team Arrow's lair, calling Felicity to let her know she was on her way.

The cool air of the fall morning was refreshing, and she let her thoughts wander to possible places Julian Albert would try to search for the totem. Before she knew it was in the hidden elevator at Palmer Tech going down.

The doors opened up and she saw Felicity standing by her workstation, a sub-machine gun in her hand pointed at a lanky man in a brown overcoat.

"Glad you made it!" Felicity shouted. "You were looking for a blond guy with a British accent, right?"

"Yep," Mari intimidated by calling upon the spirit of a gorilla in preparation for a fight.

"I'm sorry, but I think you have me confused with someone else," the British man objected.

"No we don't!" Felicity spewed.

"Well…" Mari hesitated.

"What's wrong?" Felicity groaned.

"I mean...he doesn't _look_ like the guy I'm going after," Mari confessed.

"Well, I've never seen him before, so either way he's an enemy."

"Works for me," Mari agreed. "Tell us who you are, and what you're doing here."

"I am Captain Rip Hunter, one of the last remaining Time Masters. My crew and I are here because there is something drastically wrong with this time period and we need to restore the timeline to it's original state."

"Your crew?" Mari wondered.

Right on cue, five individuals stepped into the light; while Vixen stepped into a fighter's stance.

"Oh my God," Felicity crowed.

"What?" Mari asked.

"Ray...Sara…you're alive!"

Felicity dropped her weapon and rushed up to hug Sara Lance. She then turned to Ray Palmer, staring deeply into his eyes before breaking down into tears.

"I think I better call Oliver..." Mari whispered to herself.


	4. Legends of Tomorrow

"What do you think was so important that Mari needed me to leave AMA from the hospital?" Oliver wondered aloud.

"Oh please. You know you were happy for an excuse to get out of the hospital," Laurel teased.

"Whatever," Oliver sulked into the corner of the lair's elevator.

Laurel looked over at her boyfriend and realized he was worried about something else.

"I don't think this is Mari's way of asking for our help again," Laurel consoled. "You don't have to feel guilty."

The tension visibly left Oliver's shoulders, just as the elevator arrived at the lower floor. He walked into the cortex with increased confidence, and Laurel smiled at being able to make him feel better.

"Oliver. Laurel," Mari greeted them immediately. "Now, before you go any further, I need you to prepare yourselves."

"Did something happen to Thea?" Oliver beseeched.

"No...there's no word on Thea still," Mari reassured. "But there's something else that might, for lack of a better phrase, shake your world."

"Just tell us what's going on," Oliver urged.

"It's easier if you see for yourself. But like I said, be prepared."

Mari stepped aside to let them through. The pair of vigilantes gave each other a questioning look before Oliver took the lead. He wanted to be sure to protect his girlfriend from anything that may be too traumatic for her to han-

He stopped dead in his tracks, the shock of what he was witnessing too paralyzing to turn around and warn Laurel. He saw a group of six people standing in a row on one side of the room: among them two people he thought he would never see again.

Laurel broke past Oliver and came to the same realization, tears instantly flowing from her eyes.

"Sa...Sara?" Laurel stammered.

"Laurel!" Sara Lance rejoiced.

"You're alive!" they both said in unison as they reached out to hug each other.

Both groups temporarily set aside their distrust for the other and watched the happy reunion unfold in front of them. The moment was short lived, however, as Captain Hunter cleared his throat loudly.

"Shut it, Hunter," Sara snapped, and she continued to hold her lost sister.

"Perhaps, Mr. Queen, you and I can move on to the task at hand while they finish," Captain Hunter proposed.

"You can start by explaining just who you are exactly, and what are you doing with my girlfriend's dead sister?" Oliver demanded.

"And my dead boyfriend," Felicity stammered from the outskirt of the group.

Oliver had been so distracted by Laurel's reaction to her sister that he had forgotten about that Felicity must be going through the same thing. He glanced at her to see if she was okay; she had a look of wonder and disbelief as she stared at the man she had fallen in love with.

"I'm Captain Rip Hunter," he stated.

"He says he is the captain of a...what was it called again? A time ship?" Mari questioned.

"Yes, the Waverider. And my crew of Legends and I travel throughout time to correct any aberrations that occur in the timeline."

"I didn't realize time needed fixing," Oliver questioned.

"More than you know," Captain Hunter shot back. "My crew and I experienced a rather large time-quake which caused a rupture so large, in fact, that Gideon had trouble pinpointing an exact time. She was only able to give a 30 year window of when the cause occurred. Since the Legends were taken from this year, within said window, we decided to investigate and check on their loved ones. Only now we discover everything is- different."

"You expect us to believe that time travel is real?" Oliver scoffed.

"And that you guys are what...the time-police?" Mari joked.

"It's possible," Felicity interjected.

"Are you saying you believe him?" Mari wondered.

"Einstein theorized that time travel could be possible when he developed his Theory of Relativity."

"We actually met Einstein," Dr. Stein blurted from the back of the crowd.

"Yeah...and we punched him in the face," Mick added with a smile.

"Let's say we believe you," Oliver condescended. "You said everything is different now."

"Yes," Captain Hunter reaffirmed.

"Different how?"

"Well for starters..." Captain Hunter pointed at the two sobbing sisters. "Given Laurel's reaction is it safe to say Ms. Lance is not amongst the living?"

"She died when the Queen Mary sank," Oliver emitted.

"As you can see Ms. Lance is alive and well; minus the occasional bloodlust from being resurrected by the Lazarus Pit. And in the timeline we are from Laurel-" Hunter began.

"Don't!" Sara roared.

Laurel turned back and forth between Captain Hunter and her sister, piecing it together from the grim looks on their faces.

"Oh..." Laurel faltered. "How did it happen?"

"Maybe it's best that you don't-" Sara started.

"No, I want to know."

Sara let out a long sigh, and looked down at her sister's feet as she spoke.

"It was Damien Darhk. He cornered the whole team and they barely made it out alive…except for you."

Sara looked back into her sister's eyes before continuing.

"I'm so sorry, Laurel! I wasn't there when you needed me the most! I was off with these people because I wanted to be a Legend and-"

"It's okay! It's okay!" Laurel soothed.

Another silence fell upon the group for a minute.

"And me?" Ray asked, looking at Felicity.

"You died in an explosion at your lab in Palmer Tech," Felicity explained.

"Oh, well then I'm not really dead," Ray rejoiced. "You probably never found my body, right?I'm just shrunken down in the prototype A.T.O.M. suit somewhere."

"No. We found your body. Burned almost beyond recognition. It was identified by both your dental records and DNA. I checked them myself."

"Oh," Ray deflated.

"Tell us, what else has occurred?" Captain Hunter requested.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"What is happening right now in this city?"

"Well, my sister was just kidnapped by some boomerang wielding maniac named Digger Harkness, who injected her with a drug called Mirakuru. Speedy is out trying to find their hideout so we can figure out what their real agenda is."

"Wow! There were so many things wrong with that statement I don't even know where to begin," Captain Hunter moaned.

"How did Captain Boomerang escape from the A.R.G.U.S prison on that island?" Jefferson wondered.

"What are you talking about? I've never been able to capture him; and that's a stupid nickname by the way," Oliver retorted.

"Hey I didn't give it to him, Cisco did."

"Who's Cisco?"

The crew of the Waverider looked at each other uneasily with that response.

"You know, Cisco Ramon," Jefferson pointed out.

"You mean the tech billionaire? I'm sorry to tell you but not all billionaire playboys know each other."

"Do you know someone named Barry Allen?" Sara asked.

"No. Who is that?"

"What about The Flash? Do you know who that is?"

"You mean Kid Flash?" Mari corrected. "Nobody knows who he really is under that mask."

The crew huddled together, and began whispering to each other. Oliver clutched a broken arrowhead from the workstation next to him in case whatever decision their visitors came to was something less than peaceful. Laurel had the same idea and held a retractable staff in her hands behind her back.

 _God I love her_ , Oliver thought.

The whispering grew louder, and the crew all nodded in agreement before breaking away from the huddle.

"Thank you all for answering our questions," Captain Hunter stated matter-of-factly. "We will take our leave and continue our investigation in Central City."

The sound of shuffled feet filled the quiet chamber as the crew began to disperse and walk away.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Oliver boomed. "You're not going anywhere. You seem to know way too much personal information on all of us to be able to just walk on out of here."

"Oliver, it's okay. I can vouch for them," Sara insisted.

"To us you died five years ago, so I have a little hard time trusting you're really who you say you are."

"Well, okay. I guess I can see why you would feel that way. But you can trust me. Tell him Laurel."

One look over at her sister and Sara knew that she wasn't going to get the answer she was expecting.

"I'm sorry," Laurel shook her head. "But he's right; you died five years ago. And no offense, but you weren't exactly the most loyal person back then either."

"What are you going to do then? Hold us prisoner?" Dr. Stein questioned.

Oliver clenched his arrowhead tighter as he noticed the crew shifting their stances ever so slightly. Laurel placed a hand on his arm as she tucked the retractable staff into her back pocket.

"We'll go with you," Laurel suggested.

"No. Absolutely not," Captain Hunter protested. "Restoring the timeline is way too intricate of a process to have a bunch of amateurs run around mucking things up."

"But that's exactly what we do," Jefferson pointed out.

"I'd like to think we've gotten better at it," Ray countered.

"I for one don't give a crap what we do to the timeline," Mick drawled.

"Knock it off, Mick!" Sara chided.

They continued to prattle on, until Mari let out a loud whistle.

"Yeah, I think we better go with you," Mari uttered. "If anything, to save you guys from whatever dysfunctional thing you got going on."

"Fine! Fine. Everyone get on board the Waverider," Captain Hunter conceded.

Once again the crew of the Waverider shuffled around, hesitating in case there was any further protest from Team Arrow. Finding none, the crew finally strode towards the elevator, with Team Arrow following closely behind.

* * *

"I see we have new guests," Gideon pronounced from her holographic projection.

"Yes, Gideon," Captain Hunter confirmed. "Please set a course for Central City. Full cloak."

"Right away, Captain."

"Wait, this is Gideon?" Felicity queried. "I thought Gideon was a person."

"I am an interactive artificial consciousness in charge of operating the Waverider," Gideon explained.

"That's so cool!" Felicity cheered.

She let out a small yelp as Mari poked her in the back.

"We're here to keep an eye on them, remember," Mari reminded. "Don't get distracted."

"Right," Felicity affirmed. "But I think that, maybe, since I am the tech girl I should keep an eye on the cool disembodied holographic image of a super advanced AI and get to know how it ticks."

The two girls stare at each other, Felicity's eyes pleading for permission.

"Okay, whatever," Mari relented. "But I'm not cleaning up after it."

"She's not a pet!" Captain Hunter brayed.

"You know you still haven't told us what exactly we are looking for in Central City," Oliver said.

"Not a what. A who," Captain Hunter countered. "If my suspicion is correct then there is one person at the center of all this madness: Nora Allen."


	5. The Flash

_This new reality you've created is starting to overwrite the reality that you and I know. So your original life,_ _y_ _our friends, your family..._ _p_ _retty soon, all of that will just fade away._

 _And when that happens, this world will become permanent._

When Barry first heard those words, he almost took off running to collect all his friends and reveal that he too, was a speedster. He was going to help Wally stop The Rival and use his speed until he had forgotten everything and cemented this new reality. But instead being his normal impulsive self, he decided to take things slow for a change. He swore to himself that he would no longer use his speed, and let Wally be the hero of Central City; all while preserving his memories.

"Watch it, Allen!" Eddie Thawne grunted when a distracted Barry bumped into the detective.

"Sorry, Eddie," Barry apologized. "I was thinking about something."

"It's fine, just pay attention to where you're going next time," Eddie crowed.

"I will, and sorry again."

Barry turned and nearly walked into a uniformed officer; spinning awkwardly to avoid another mishap. Eddie shook his head and and watched Barry slowly make his way to the stairs that led to his crime lab. He silently prayed his colleague wasn't as clumsy with the evidence.

The elevator doors opened up, and Iris West emerged with a radiance only she could possibly manifest. Barry smiled widely as he turned away from the stairs to greet her on this unexpected visit.

"Hey, Iris," Barry beamed.

"Why hello Barry Allen," Iris returned.

They both stared at each other, the tension of familiarity thickening the air between was why he chose to keep his memories. To better cherish the life he has now in comparison to the sorrowful life he left behind.

"What brings you here?" Barry asked. "Not that I'm not happy to see you… because, well, I am."

"I just wanted to talk to you for a minute, if that's okay," Iris answered. "Someplace more private."

"Sure, come on up! I'll show you my lab."

Barry offered his arm to escort Iris, and she stifled a laugh as she looped her arm through his. The two walked up the stairs together, doing the usual small talk of how work was going and the like.

"I wish I could be with a girl like that some day," Eddie mumbled to himself as he watched them ascend the stairs, and then returned to work.

* * *

"So what did you want to talk about?" Barry inquired as he finished the tour of his rather small lab.

His gaze momentarily wandered past Iris at the cork board behind her, relieved that his mother's case was no longer hidden underneath the map of the city.

"I wanted to talk to you about my brother," Iris began. "I mean, I know you said you figured out who he was for what sounds like awhile now, and you haven't said anything. I just wanted to make sure that it's going to stay that way."

"Of course! His secret is safe with me," Barry affirmed.

"That's good," Iris breathed with relief. "Wally was a little worried you might, but I told him you would never say anything. Somehow I just know that we can trust you."

They both smiled at each other again, and Barry fought the urge to kiss her. While she may be taking things fairly well so far, he didn't want to rush things and end up ruining everything.

"Do you want to go get lunch?" Barry invited.

"I wish I could! But I have a deadline by the end of today and I'm going to have to take lunch at my desk to make up for this little trip."

"How about dinner then?"

"I'd like that."

Iris walked to the door of his lab, and then turned around.

"Whatever you did to find out who my brother was, can you do the same thing to find out who The Rival is?" Iris suggested.

"Oh… I tried that but it didn't seem to work," Barry lamented.

"Why not?" Iris pressed, revealing the reporter within.

"Uh, because…"

 _Think fast!_ Barry thought.

"Because Wally had a criminal record that I used to help piece it all together. You know, from his street racing days," he sputtered. "Whoever this Rival is, he seems to have no criminal record that I know of."

"Okay," Iris lilted.

She shut the door behind her, and Barry let out a huge sigh. He really hoped The Rival really did not have a criminal record, or else Iris will know he lied to her once Wally catches him. All he can do now is hope for the best.

* * *

"Come on," Barry murmured to himself, trying to will the bus to move faster. All he wanted was just to get ready for his big date. He was seriously starting to reconsider his decision to not use his speed anymore.

But since he was almost home anyways, he impatiently tapped his foot instead. When he looked down he saw he was tapping it at super speed and let out a low swear. He searched the faces of his fellow passengers to make sure no one had noticed. Once he was in the clear, he looked back up and saw the bus had just passed his stop. This time, he let out a loud swear.

A mother glared at Barry as she covered the ears of her 4 year-old son. He mouthed _sorry_ and pulled the cord to signal his release at the next stop. He lamented how much further it seemed to be compared to all the ones leading to his house; or maybe it just seemed that way. The bus finally came to a stop and Barry leapt out.

Once outside he looked around for any prying eyes.

 _Just one last time,_ he thought.

 **Whoosh!**

In a single instant, Barry was standing in front of his childhood home. No, not just his childhood home anymore. It was his home _now_. The perfect life with his mother and father that he never got the chance to experience before-

Barry's head suddenly pulsated, the pain so extreme that it felt like it was almost going to explode. He collapsed to the ground, his vision fading to black; and the odd feeling that something else was fading too. And then it was gone.

 _No, not again!_ Barry pleaded. _What memory did I lose now?_

An impossible question for him to answer, because of course if he lost the memory then how would he remember if he ever had it? He searched his memories of the other life, and found some gaps missing in his middle school years that he was almost certain he could recall earlier today. Well, that time was some of the worst memories of his life, so at least it wasn't a huge loss.

After taking a minute to catch his breath, Barry got up and dusted himself off. He then quickly, but not too quickly, ran inside the house.

"Hey, it's me!" Barry called out to his parents.

"Hey, Slugger! Come in to the kitchen, will you?" Henry Allen shouted back.

Barry was already halfway up the stairs, but he vowed to never pass up an opportunity to spend time with his parents ever again, so he complied without hesitation. He greeted his father and mother, who were sitting at the end of the dining table, and nearly jumped back in surprise at the two people he saw at the other end.

"Hello, Barry," Laurel Lance chimed. "I'm Star City Assistant District Attorney Laurel Lance. This is my associate, Mr. Hunter."

"What are you doing here?" Barry grumbled.

"Barry!" Nora Allen chided her son.

"It's okay, Mrs. Allen," Laurel said. "I'm sorry to disturb you at home, but we arrived in Central City rather late. We thought you might have left the office already so we decided to come visit you at home due to the urgency of the situation."

"What's this about?" Barry asked.

"Well…" Laurel trailed off, and her eyes swept over to his parents.

"Oh! Of course," Nora took the hint. "We'll just be off to the store to give you some privacy."

"Thank you," Laurel smiled.

Barry noticed Laurel's eyes seemed to be studying his mother, as if trying to discern the secret behind a magic trick. Rip Hunter, on the other hand, was staring at Barry with poorly concealed anger.

The three of them remained silent until they heard the front door shut and the car start up in the driveway.

"What are you really doing here?" Barry asked.

"I could say the same for you, Mr. Allen," Rip Hunter scoffed. "Or rather, I should say that about your mother."

"Leave her out of this," Barry fumed.

"Okay!" Laurel interrupted. "Maybe we should back this conversation up a little. I'm going to start by asking… are you really a speedster? The one he calls The Flash?"

"Yes, I'm a speedster; but I'm not The Flash anymore. Someone else is protecting this city so I don't have to."

"You're okay in letting some child risk his life just so you can live out your fantasy?" Captain Hunter disapproved.

"I'm not letting him fight alone! I can give him advice to help him overcome any threat that comes his way."

"You know who Kid Flash is?" Laurel asked.

"I found out who he was when he got hurt in a fight with The Rival."

"You mean to tell me you've seen first hand the danger you are putting him in and yet you still do nothing!" Captain Hunter seethed.

"He's fine now!" Barry defended. "Speedsters heal quickly. I'm sure he'll be more careful next time."

"You don't understand the magnitude of damage you have done to the timeline."

"Why does my family have to suffer in order for the universe to function, huh?"

"Because as tragic as it is, sometimes you just have to. Believe me, I'm speaking from experience."

Captain Hunter recounted the sad tale of having to allow his wife and child to die at the hands of Vandal Savage.

"Look, I'm sorry that happened to you," Barry consoled. "But if you had the power to change it, wouldn't you?"

He then turned his attention to Laurel.

"Do you know what happens to you in that timeline your 'associate' is so eager to get back to?"

"Yes, I know," Laurel acknowledged solemnly.

Barry looked at them incredulously and then shook his head.

"No. You can't make me do it," Barry refused.

He clenched his fist, and lightning sparked in his eyes.

"Barry… don't," Laurel warned, standing up.

Captain Hunter reached for his energy gun, and there was a streak of red light emanating from where Barry once stood.

A loud screech filled the room as Laurel did her Canary Cry, causing Barry to fall to the ground and cover his ears. Captain Hunter aimed his energy gun at the rogue speedster as he slowly approached.

"You need to do the right thing, Mr. Allen," Captain Hunter reiterated.

"Or else what?" Barry challenged.

"Or else we'll do the right thing for you."

Another streak of lightning, and Laurel once again unleashed her Canary Cry. This time, Barry was moving away from them, so he collapsed near the doorway.

"Stop!" Captain Hunter commanded as he shot his energy gun.

But it was too late. One last flash of lighting and then Barry was gone.

"Damn it!" Captain Hunter hissed.

"What do we do now?" Laurel asked.

"Now…the hunt is on."

* * *

The city streaked by imperceptibly as Barry Allen ran through the streets as fast as he could. He wanted to make sure there was no chance they could find him, at least not for a while. He wasn't too familiar with the capabilities of the Waverider, but he figured anything from that far in the future will track him down eventually.

Everything came to focus as he stopped at the waterfront. He drew his phone from his pocket and called his mother.

" _Hey my beautiful boy!_ " Nora lilted. " _Are you guys done already?_ "

"Mom, listen carefully, okay," Barry panted. "You and Dad need to get in the car and drive out of the city, right now!"

" _What are you talking about?_ "

"The ADA said there was a credible threat made against me from a case I worked on a while back," Barry lied. "They're going to put me into police protection, but I want to make sure you two are safe."

" _What? Oh my God!_ "

" _What is it?_ "Henry could be heard in the background.

" _There's a threat on Barry, he wants us to get out of town_."

The two started prattling nervously about the safety of their son.

"Mom, listen to me! You need to leave– right now!"

" _Are you sure you're safe?_ "

"I'll be fine. Promise."

" _Okay...well go._ "

"Thanks. And Mom...I love you."

" _I_ _love you too._ "

The call was ended, leaving Barry feeling alone for the first time since he entered Flashpoint. He chuckled a little at his own use of the name derived by his sworn enemy.

 _But am I really alone?_ Barry wondered.

Inspiration struck him, and he immediately dialed another number in his phone.

" _Hey!_ " Iris answered." _I'm still at work, but I promise I'll be there for our date._ "

"I'm sorry, but I don't think we'll be able to go out tonight," Barry apologized. "There's something really urgent I need to talk to you and Wally about."

" _What's going on?_ "

"It's easier if I explain it in person."

" _Okay, where do you-_ "

 **Whoosh!**

Before Iris could finish her question, she was standing in front of her brother in their hideout.

"Wally, you know I hate it when you do that; I was in the middle of a call!" Iris scolded her brother.

"It wasn't me…" Wally corrected, and pointed behind her.

She turned and saw a man in a red suit. The man pulled off his cowl, and revealed that it was none other than Barry Allen.

"I knew there was something weird going on with you," Iris breathed, taking a few steps closer to her brother.

"I need your guys' help," Barry pleaded. "My parents' lives are at stake."


	6. The Flash Part 2

"I knew I should have gone with you!" Oliver shouted at Captain Hunter. "You put Laurel at risk, and you let an evil speedster escape!"

"Despite what he has done, Mr. Allen was once considered a hero; and your close friend," Captain Hunter deflected. "I thought it prudent to at least give him the opportunity to see the error of his ways."

"Well he didn't. You said that he was so dangerous that you needed to have someone with Laurel's abilities at your side. Why didn't you just shoot him when Laurel stunned him?"

"We need him alive; he plays a key role to the future timeline."

"Unbelievable."

"You weren't there, Ollie," Laurel interjected. "He seemed like a normal, happy guy until we told him he had to give his happy life for the greater good. I probably could have tried harder to stop him, but even I'm not sure if I really want to change things back."

Laurel looked over at Sara, and shared a solemn look with her sister.

"I wish we didn't have to either," Sara agreed. "But if I hadn't seen for myself the kind of damage changing the past can do, I wouldn't be asking you to."

 **Ring! Ring!**

A cell phone ring broke the tense silence holding everyone hostage, and Oliver stepped away from the group to answer it.

"How do we track a speedster anyways?" Mari asked, bringing the room back into focus. "He could be anywhere in the world by now."

"I don't think so," Dr. Stein answered. "I know Barry; he won't just abandon his home without a fight. If anything he'll try to convince us to stand down just as much as we try to convince him."

"Okay, so we narrowed it down form anywhere in the world to anywhere in this city. That's helpful."

Oliver finished his phone call and returned to the group, looking even more grim than before.

"That was Speedy," Oliver disclosed. "Thea was spotted crossing the bridge in Star City early this morning, flipping over any cars that got in her way. The police intercepted her before he could make it over there. They opened fire, and wounded her before she killed them all. He's trying to track her down following the blood trail, but he's not sure if she could have survived even with the mirakuru in her system."

"Oh my God, Ollie," Laurel consoled.

"You said that if we get this Flash guy to go back and fix the timeline, everything gets reverted back to how it was before?" Oliver asked.

"Yes," Captain Hunter answered.

"And in the other timeline Thea is still alive?"

"Yes, she is."

"I'll find him. And I'll make him fix everything; whether he's willing to or not."

He stomped over to the table and grabbed his bow and headed to the exit, nodding at Mari and Laurel to follow him. Laurel followed suit, and Mari sighed and did the same, eyeing the Legends as if they somehow had something to do with the sudden turn of events.

"You're just going to let them go?" Jefferson asked.

"Good riddance," Mick grumbled. "The green guy was a real buzz kill."

"All we're doing is widening our search area," Captain Hunter explained.

"I should go with them," Sara suggested. "Something tells me they're not going to give us a call if they find him."

The look in Sara's eyes conveyed the rest of her intention; she wanted to spend as much time with her sister while she still could.

Captain Hunter nodded his head in agreement and Sara ran out to follow Team Arrow.

"Should we all split up and look for Barry?" Jefferson asked.

"No. While they look for Mr. Allen, we will pursue the other solution to our problem."

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Wally contended. "You went back in time, kept this Reverse Flash from killing your mom, and now these, Legends, want you to go back in time _again_ and let it happen?"

"Yep," Barry confirmed. "And later on that timeline my father is killed as well."

"But why would they want your parents to die?" Iris asked.

"They think it will cause a disruption in the timeline. But I've gone back and changed the past a couple of times before, and I sincerely believe that each time it was for the better."

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with the idea of changing the past. Not just you, but human beings in general. I think there are some things that we just shouldn't mess with."

"One of the times I changed the past it was to save the entire city; including your father."

Iris blinked as she ran the scenario in her mind, and then looked away as she failed to come up with a counter-argument.

"Look, guys. I'm confident that whatever consequences the Legends are worried about, if we all worked together we could solve it. I just need your help to be able to keep them from ganging up on me and have that conversation with them."

Iris and Wally shared a brief look between them.

"Can Wally and I talk for a second?" Iris asked

"Yeah, sure," Barry agreed.

The brother-sister crime fighting team huddled at one corner of the room and whispered to each other. The occasional glance at his direction made Barry feel nervous, and he prayed that they would be willing to help him out.

After what felt like an eternity, the two siblings broke up from the huddle, and rejoined Barry.

"Alright, we'll help," Wally proclaimed.

"Yes! Thank you!" Barry cheered.

"But on one condition," Iris cautioned. "You have to be completely honest with us from here on out. We don't want anymore surprises like you being a speedster or knowing who we were already."

"Okay," Barry promised.

"Now, with that being said: is there anything that you haven't mentioned that we need to know about?"

There were only two major details Barry had left out so far: Barry steadily losing his memories, and holding the Reverse Flash as a prisoner in the warehouse district. He wasn't sure exactly how Iris would react to him keeping someone imprisoned indefinitely, especially given her moral apprehension to him changing the timeline.

 _I might just keep that one last detail to myself_ , Barry thought.

"I've slowly been losing the memories from my old life. There's a risk that eventually I won't remember that I'm a speedster and I could lose my connection with the Speed Force."

"The what?" Wally wondered.

"It's this kind of universal energy that gives us our speed," Barry explained. "I'll try and teach you everything I know about what we are capable of before my memory goes away entirely."

"Cool!"

The smile on the young speedster reminded Barry that the two siblings didn't have their father as a role model in this timeline.

 _There's so much work I need to do to fix everything_ , Barry thought. _But it will all be worth it if I can keep my parents alive and well._

"Well, if there's nothing else you need to tell us," Iris noted. "Then we should start coming up with some kind of plan to find these Legends."

"All we need to do is let _them_ find us," Barry proposed.

* * *

The warm summer day drew out the residents of Central City. Crowds of people walked along the streets towards their random destinations in their goal of having some fun in the sun. Team Arrow was the only exception; while they too were wandering aimlessly outside, it was not out of enjoyment, but a grim sense of duty. The Sisters Lance trudging along the boulevard was a prime example. Both of them stayed close together, but the knowledge that whatever reprieve they've been given was temporary weighed on any desire to speak to each other.

"I think I finally know how you felt earlier," Sara began to speak.

"What do you mean, earlier?" Laurel asked.

"When I came back to life in that other timeline. All you kept saying was the girl you brought back was not the same sister you grew up with. When I look at you now, I can almost see my sister; but there's a certain spark that's missing."

"Are you saying I'm boring?" Laurel joked.

"No… well… maybe," Sara laughed. "You were always kind of serious. Before you started dating Ollie, I used to be the only one to get you to have actual fun. But what I really mean is-"

"That it doesn't feel real. Like this is a dream you're going to wake up from any second."

"Exactly," Sara agreed. "I wonder if Barry feels like this when he looks at his parents."

The two sisters stopped for a second, and Sara wiped away a tear.

"I'm going to check down this street," Sara croaked. "Maybe he was dumb enough to try and hide out at Jitters. Want anything to drink?"

"No, I'm fine," Laurel declined the offer.

The younger Lance darted down the side street just as Oliver turned around from the front of the pack and met up with his girlfriend.

"Are you okay?" Oliver asked.

"It's a little weird seeing her again," Laurel admitted. "But in a way, it's almost exactly what I needed."

"That's good," Oliver trailed off.

"What's on your mind?"

"I guess I wanted to apologize. I got so worried about everything with Thea that even the remote possibility of going back to a world where she is okay left me blind to everything else. I never even thought to ask you about how you felt about what happens to you on the other timeline."

"There's nothing to apologize for. I love Thea just as much as you do, and would do anything to get her back. Besides, she's not the only sister that gets to live when we go back to that timeline."

Laurel looked over and watched Sara walk back towards them, sipping a cup of ice coffee through a straw.

" _Hey guys,"_ Mari called through the comms. _"You better head to Park Plaza."_

* * *

Mari floated above Park Plaza, dumbfounded at the sight below her.

" _Did you have a lead on the speedster?"_ Oliver asked Mari through the comms.

"You could say that,"Mari replied.

Directly below her was a man in a red suit, standing next to a row of stones that literally spelled out _I'M HERE!_

"I'll go and take a closer look," Mari offered.

" _No. We don't know what he's capable of. Just wait until we get there. ETA five minutes."_

"Okay" Mari lied, and proceeded to descend anyways.

Although Mari was curious to find out for herself just what kind of person this speedster was, she was no idiot. She remained a good twenty feet off of the ground, knowing a speedster was not as agile in the air as she was.

The man in red looked up at Mari and waved hello.

"Hey there, Mari," Barry greeted cheerfully.

"Hi. Barry, wasn't it?" Mari replied. "Not very good at hiding are you?"

"Does it look like I'm trying to hide?" Barry noted and emphasized his point by waving his arm towards the stone-writing.

"Suppose not. But then that leaves me no choice but to ask: why not?"

"I just want to talk to you all and explain."

"Yeah, we heard all about what happens to your parents from those Legends. They say unless you let nature take it's course it'll tear the universe in half or something."

"And you believe them?"

"Honestly, I don't know who to believe. They're strangers to me just like you are. That's why I'm having this conversation with you."

"Well, I appreciate it," Barry thanked.

"I'm just doing what I think is right," Mari said.

"It doesn't have to be as black and white as they say it is. I think if we all worked together we can-"

"STAY RIGHT THERE!" Green Arrow boomed through a voice distorter from the edge of Park Plaza.

Green Arrow, Black Canary and White Canary all stood in a row at the edge of the park. Green Arrow already had his bow drawn.

"Back to work," Mari remarked as she flew towards the rest of Team Arrow.

"We're friends. You don't need that," Barry pointed at the bow. "I just want to talk."

"You don't know me," Oliver refuted. "And you don't know the consequences of your actions. Worse, you know them but refuse to do anything about it."

"What exactly is so bad about this place?"

"Someone very close to me is either dead or dying, and from what they tell me she's alive and well on the other side."

"But it doesn't have to-"

The rest of Barry's spiel was cut off as an arrow flew towards him, and he easily caught it in his hand.

"That's not going to work on me," Barry scoffed.

"Sure it will," Oliver objected.

The arrow Barry held suddenly let out a high pitched whine and a shock of electricity coursed all throughout his body. While he may generate lightning around him when he runs, his body was not immune to the effects of a direct electrical attack.

He let out a yell and dropped to one knee.

 **Whistle!**

Barry cried out in pain again as an arrow went into his foot, pinning it to the ground. Barry fell on his back, bewildered that even though they never fought before in this timeline, Oliver was _still_ somehow on equal footing with him.

"Little help here!" Barry called out.

 **Whoosh!**

A yellow blur cut across the park and Oliver was knocked back. Wally loomed over the vigilante with a wide grin on his face.

"I can't believe I get to meet the Green Arrow!" Wally beamed.

 **Screech!**

The young speedster covered his ears and fell down on the ground due to the Canary Cry emanating from Laurel.

Sara leapt forward and hit Wally with her metal staff, the clank of metal hitting skull replacing the shrieking.

"Barry told me all about the Man-in-Yellow you son of a bitch!" Sara seethed.

"That's…not…Thawne," Barry panted in between spurts of pain.

"Oh," Sara said. "Who is he then?"

"That's Kid Flash," Laurel answered as she recognized the suit.

"The Flash," Wally groaned.

"Kid Flash," everyone but Sara corrected.

Mari broke away from Team Arrow as they surrounded Wally, slowly approaching the wounded Barry.

"Look, Barry," Mari spoke. "From what I can tell, you don't seem like a bad guy. I know because I met plenty of bad guys growing up in foster care. Just like you I lost my parents, and even though they died before I could really remember them, I always felt like there was a big part of me missing. So believe me when I say that I understand your pain.

"But the only reason I turned out halfway decent was because I found some great foster parents. While they didn't completely fill that missing part of me, they sure as hell made it easier to bear. I can tell by how nice you are that you grew up in a pretty good family too. Do you really want to throw away the life you built with them? What's going to happen to them without having you in their lives?"

By now Mari had reached Barry, who was now using his arms to prop himself up slightly. He thought about Joe, who was probably still passed out on his couch from drinking too much the night before; probably this morning too.

Several thoughts began to race through his mind as her words sank in. _No, there has to be a way to_ _fix everything in this world and_ -

There was a gust of wind, and Mari suddenly let out a gasp as an arm with sparks of lightning protruded from her chest. Barry watched horrified as she collapsed to the ground, revealing The Rival standing directly behind where she was.

"No one so much as touches another speedster. Not until I have the chance to prove to the world that I have NO RIVAL!" Edward Clarence shouted.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the correct way, Gideon?" Captain Hunter asked as he squinted at the path marked on the tiny holographic map in front of him.

"Yes, Captain. I'm quite sure," Gideon responded. "After analyzing traffic cameras of Barry Allen for the last three months, this is the one location where he has consistently visited at least once everyday, carrying a bag of food."

"So what?" Mick wondered. "Maybe he likes eating his lunch in a dark warehouse? Snart and I used to do that all the time when we were hiding out from the cops."

"Barry doesn't have to hide from the police. He works for the police," Dr. Stein stated.

"Really? No wonder I never liked that guy."

"We're here," Captain Hunter announced.

The group fell silent as they approached an inconspicuous warehouse. Captain Hunter nodded at Ray, who shrunk the A.T.O.M. suit and scouted the location. Jefferson and Dr. Stein used the moment to merge into Firestorm, prepared to take on anything that may come racing out.

"Boo!" Ray shouted in Firestorm's ear just before returning to normal size.

Firestorm launched himself into the air with a yelp.

"Don't do that man, I almost had a heart attack!" Firestorm complained.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it," Ray laughed.

"What's the status, Mr. Palmer?" Captain Hunter wearied.

"Thawne is in there alright. He's in some kind of cage equipped with a metahuman dampener."

"Excellent. Let us proceed."

Captain Hunter threw open the door and sauntered into the room.

"It's about damn time! I'm starving!" Thawne barked from within the cage.

The incarcerated speedster looked over and did a slight double-take at the sight of the group before him.

"You're not who I was expecting," Thawne wondered. "How may I help you?"

"Actually," Captain Hunter said. "I came here to make a proposition that will help both of us."

"Oh? What sort of 'proposition'?"

"Your freedom…in exchange for killing Nora Allen."


	7. The Flash Part 3

Time feels different to a speedster. One second can feel like an eternity when you move faster than, well, everything. The pain Barry felt in that singular second for Mari's lifeless body to collapse to the ground was enough to drive him mad. The emotional pain he felt was compounded by the literal pain of the arrow in his foot as he tried to run and catch her; and at the end of that second all he felt was powerless.

All The Flash could do was look into the scared eyes of a woman who died trying to help him.

"Ahem," The Rival echoed. "A thank you would be nice."

Barry's head shot up and gave The Rival a steely gaze.

"You want me to thank you?" Barry fumed. "You just killed my friend!"

"That arrow in your foot doesn't look very friendly."

A blur of motion as Barry swung his arm to grab at The Rival, but the dark clad speedster laughed due to being out of reach. Instead, he took off his cowl and crouched down to be at the same level as the pinned Barry.

"My name is Edward Clariss," The Rival introduced. "I'm going to let you live…for now. Once you're all healed up, come find me so we can find out who is the fastest; fair and square. But right now…"

Clariss paused to stand up and donned his cowl once again. He turned his attention to Wally, who was now up and ready to fight.

"…It's your turn," Clariss challenged.

"Bring it on!" Wally accepted.

 **Whoosh!**

Both of them disappeared with a crack of thunder as they took their fight elsewhere in the city.

Barry broke off the back of the arrow and pulled his foot out of the shaft. He stumbled as he tried to put weight on it. He wouldn't be running on it for a little while.

Instead he fell to his knees again, head held down as what was left of Team Arrow surrounded him. Oliver had his bow drawn and Sara took position behind Barry. Laurel crouched down to confirm Mari's status, and shook her head after briefly checking for a pulse.

"This is all your fault," Oliver growled.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Barry emitted.

"But it did, Barry," Sara averred. "You know what you need to do to make it right."

Barry shook his head, tears streaming down his cheeks as he quietly sobbed.

"I'll go back," Barry cracked.

Sara let out a sigh of relief, and Oliver lowered his bow.

"As soon as my foot is healed I'll go back to yesterday," Barry babbled. "I know who The Rival is now. He told me his name. I'll go back, find out where he lives and-"

"Stop it, Barry! Enough!" Sara chided. "When will you learn that you travel back in time for a do-over. That's not how the world works."

"No, you're wrong. There has to be a way to fix this."

"Sounds like the only thing that's broken is you," Oliver spat. "Get up. You're coming with us."

Pain shot up Barry's leg as Sara and Oliver pulled him up into a standing position. He waited for the inevitable _click_ of metahuman cuffs being slapped on his wrists to dampen his powers. Except that click never came.

 _That's right_ , Barry thought. _Cisco never worked with the CCPD to invent the dampening cuffs._

The only thing left to do was to stall for time and wait for his foot to heal enough for him to at least get a burst of speed away from his captors.

"Where are you taking me?" Barry asked.

"To the Waverider," Sara answered.

He let out a small yelp and dramatically held his foot in his hand.

"What is it now?" Oliver groaned.

"My foot is killing me."

"You'll live," Oliver grunted, pushing Barry forward.

Barry feigned that there was too much pain in his foot and stumbled forward, landing face first on the ground.

"We don't have time for this; his foot will heal any moment," Sara explained.

"Maybe we should call the others to bring the ship here. Especially since..." Laurel suggested, nodding towards Mari.

Giving one last harsh look at Barry, Sara nodded and stepped away from the group to make contact with the rest of the Legends over her comms. Oliver and Laurel stood guard over their captive as Barry thought about how to escape. He would need some kind of distraction to be able to avoid the Canary Cry.

"You did what?!" Sara exclaimed. Apparently she was not pleased by the response of her teammates. "Well, we still need the Waverider. Can you have Gideon fly here on auto-pilot?"

Another second goes by and then Sara gave her thanks before returning to the group.

"The Waverider is on it's way," Sara announced.

"What was with the shouting?" Laurel asked.

"They found another way to undo what Barry did."

"I thought he was the only one that could change things back," Oliver persisted.

"I didn't know there was another way either. It's still good that we captured Barry because we need to keep him out of the way until it's done."

The ground beneath them began to vibrate, and a column of earth sprang up and knocked Oliver square in the chest. He went flying back, landing ten feet away with a groan.

"Ollie!" Laurel shouted.

The earth continued to quake, and The Sisters Lance looked in all directions to find out the source. They saw a blond haired man standing calmly in the field and turned to face him.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion," Julian Albert quipped. "I actually don't mean any harm, but the Green Arrow has a penchant for shooting first and asking questions later."

"Who are you and what do you want?" Laurel raged.

"I'm just a simple archaeologist looking to retrieve an artifact," Julian replied, pointing towards Mari's necklace. "I found one of it's siblings; but I'm looking to reunite them all."

"You're not going anywhere near her," Sara asserted, stepping into a fighting stance with her metal staff.

"Suit yourself," Julian sighed.

More columns of earth began shooting up from the ground; however the two sisters were prepared and expertly dodged the attacks coming at them. Barry lay on the ground, thankful the 'archaeologist' was ignoring him. He rotated his foot, wincing slightly at the movement but not as much as he did a moment ago. It was almost time to make his escape.

The two sisters continued to dodge column after column of earth sprouting towards them, yet they weren't able to get any closer to their attacker either. Julian slowly crept forward towards Mari and her totem. Laurel let out a Canary Cry, crumbling a column as it sprung out at her. She leapt forward to do the same to Julian. The ground she landed on became soft like quicksand, and she quickly started to sink as she fought to free herself from it.

"Don't move! It'll only make it worse!" Barry cautioned.

"Get me out of here!" Laurel pleaded.

"I can't reach you!" Sara cried out as she now dodged double the amount of attacks.

Oliver still hadn't regained consciousness, and it was uncertain just how bad his condition really was.

Lightning sparked in Barry's eyes as he tapped into the Speed Force to flow throughout his body and heal his foot. Unable to wait any longer, he ran on the quicksand to save Laurel. The sensation of walking on something so viscous was slightly unnerving. He pulled Laurel up as he ran past, and then set her down next to Mari.

A throbbing pain from his foot spiked up to his spine. Barry ignored it and took off running to make his escape before Laurel could give her thanks. He made it a point to knock over the Julian Albert on his way out, and watched the city blur by, albeit a slower pace than usual.

The world came back into focus as he landed in the couch of the brother-sister crime fighters' hideout, letting out a groan from the pain from his foot. The bleeding had started again, so he grabbed a towel to try and stem it.

"Oh my God, Barry!" Iris yelped. "Are you okay?"

She asked the question while remaining in her seat, her eyes darting back and forth between Barry and the screen in front of her.

"Yeah…I'm fine. It's just my foot," Barry breathed.

"How bad is it? Can you run?"

Barry shook his head.

"I barely made it back here. Why?"

"Because I think Wally could use your help," Iris shuddered.

Barry sat up in the couch and looked over at the screen which showed live news footage of Wally's and The Rival's trails of lighting popping in and around a skyscraper. Even though it was happening so fast, Barry could tell that one of the streaks of lighting was struggling to keep up with the other. The slower one was just barely shorter than the other, and the faster one would pause for a fraction of a second to let the other catch up. If he was there in person he would be able to make out which one was Wally, but the camera's frame rates made it impossible to know for sure. Once again, he was powerless to do anything but watch.

Streaks of lightning shot back and forth, crawling their way towards the top of the building. The camera panned upwards to keep up with the action, and the reporter on the scene exclaimed there was another person standing at the top of the roof as if waiting for them. The footage showed the blurred silhoutte of a man in a yellow suit, which could almost be mistaken for Kid Flash if not for the ominous glowing red eyes.

"I don't believe it," Barry trembled.

"Who is he?" Iris inquired.

The camera suddenly panned back downwards, and showed the image of Kid Flash falling down the length of the skyscraper, clutching his stomach. Iris gasped in terror at the sight of her brother silently hitting the ground, the camera being too far away to capture the thud of his landing.

"Wally!" Iris choked as tears flowed out of her eyes. "Barry I know you're hurt but can you-"

 **Whoosh!**

In a painful instant, Barry was at the site and searched around the building until he found Wally laying face down in the middle of the small lawn that encircled the building. At first Barry was thankful that Wally had landed somewhere soft, but then his face grew somber as he noticed the grass beneath him was stained red with blood. He suspected The Rival had stabbed him either with an object or a vibrating arm.

There was no sign of either The Rival or Reverse Flash. Barry decided to grab Wally before his luck, if he could call it that, ran out. Another burst of speed and he and Wally were in the cortex of Ramon Industries, collapsed on the ground.

"What the hell happened to you?" Cisco shouted. "And why the hell did you come _here_?!"

"We need your equipment so Wally can get treated for his wounds," Barry explained.

"What are you talking about? I don't have that kind of equipment. This is a tech company; we have foosball tables not surgery tables."

"You don't have any medical equipment at all?" Barry complained.

"What did I just say? You need to take him to a hospital, man."

"I don't…know if I still can," Barry panted.

He looked down at his foot, and it was torn completely open, with blood pouring out from the gaping hole of what originally was a small arrow wound.

Cisco instantly gagged at the sight and ran for the nearest trash can to vomit.

"When you're done…call 9-1-1," Barry instructed. "We're going to need an ambulance…"

* * *

"Is he going to be okay?" Laurel asked as she watched beams of light span across Oliver's injured frame.

They were in the medical bay of the Waverider, with her and Oliver taking up both chairs. Oliver's wounds were considerably more serious than hers, his breaths were ragged gasps as he suffered from broken ribs, possible deflated lung, and who knows what else.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Sara reassured. "Just let Gideon do her thing. That goes for you too."

Sara pushed on her sister's shoulder to lay her back in the chair. Laurel reluctantly complied, turning her head to make sure she could see how her boyfriend was doing.

After a few short minutes, Laurel's eyes closed and she fell asleep, the sedative Gideon administered earlier finally taking effect. Sara kissed her sister on the cheek, and quietly stepped out of the room.

"Gideon?" Sara called out.

" _Yes, Ms. Lance_ ," Gideon responded over the hallway intercom.

"What are the chances Oliver will make a full recovery?"

" _I'm afraid Mr. Queen's prognosis is not very_ _optimistic_ _. It is unlikely that he will make a full recovery. He has several internal injuries which are difficult to treat._ "

"Is he…is he dying?" Sara stammered.

" _I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that._ "

 _That's a yes_ , Sara thought.

Shouting could be heard coming from the bridge, and Sara decided to get some answers as to what exactly happened today. As she approached she overheard the contents of the conversation, mostly revolved around whether the crew should have split up or stayed together to prevent the current catastrophe.

"Without Barry Allen willing to restore the past I thought we had no alternative but to set Thawne free so he can carry out the task on his own," Captain Hunter defended.

"Well, we let him go and nothing's changed," Jefferson countered. "Right, Gideon?"

" _That is correct. The current timeline has not reverted back to it's original state_ ," Gideon answered.

"What is Thawne waiting for?" Dr. Stein pondered.

"Oh, I don't know," Sara interjected. "Maybe he's out there trying to kill Barry, which has always been his goal! How could you be so stupid, Rip?"

"He seemed rather agreeable," Captain Hunter faltered.

"Well, yeah! He would agree to anything if it led to you setting him free!"

"Blondie has a point," Mick agreed.

"Oh, _now_ you say something," Jefferson hissed.

"I like a good prison break," Mick clarified.

"Now we not only have one rogue speedster, we have the Man-in-Yellow, this Rival jackass, and some guy who can control dirt. Not only that, but Oliver is critical, Laurel is injured and too distraught to fight, and Mari…"

Tears welled up in Sara's eyes as the memory of what she saw came back to the forefront. The rest of the crew bowed their heads in a natural moment of silence.

"Things may look grim, Ms. Lance," Captain Hunter empathized. "But we still have work to do. We need to restore the timeline before it's too late."

"You go on without me then," Sara refused. "This is _your_ mess, now. You clean it up."

She stormed off the bridge, leaving the rest of the crew to think about what to do next.

"So…how _are_ we going to fix this?" Ray asked.

"I'm not sure," Captain Hunter dismayed.

* * *

 _The West family gathered around the dinig table, tearing open a box of pizza Barry had just brought back from their favorite pizzeria in Coast City. Joe and Iris laughed as they fought over who would get the largest slice, and Barry used his speed to take it before they had a chance to settle it. The sound of Wally's car exhaust system shook the walls momentarily as he pulled into the driveway. Joe forgot about the pizza and rushed to greet the son he never knew he had until barely a month ago. Barry smiled from the head of the table as he witnessed the pride in Joe's face when Wally walked through the door._

 _Everything shook again, and Barry's smile faded as he looked around for any sort of cause. He felt disturbed that no one else seemed to notice the seismic event. The table and the scene at the other end of the table elongated, stretching to where he could barely make out the difference between furniture and people. Barry burst into super speed, trying to catch up with the rest of the West family; and failed. He was left behind in empty black nothingness._

 **Gasp!**

Barry shot up from the hospital bed gasping for air, a sense of fear overwhelming him, yet he couldn't remember from what exactly. The sensation faded the way most dreams do, and no matter how hard he tried to focus he couldn't remember a single detail from it. Only the rapid beating of his heart validated that what he felt was true and genuine fear; almost like he lost something very important to him.

"Barry! Are you okay?" Iris voiced her concern from the side of the bed.

"Yes, I think so," Barry mumbled. "How's Wally?"

"Doctors say he had a bad concussion, and he is in surgery right now for his stab wound. Doctors say they'll know more after the surgery."

The look of concern in her eyes for Barry left him with a warm feeling, but also a sense of uncertainty. Like something about the situation felt misplaced.

"I appreciate the concern," Barry said. "But shouldn't you be with your brother? We barely know each other."

"Maybe in this time, but according to you we've lived most of our lives together," Iris replied. "A part of me can feel it too."

"What are you talking about, 'this time.' What other time is there?" Barry questioned.

"The one where you said we grew up together because that 'Man-in-Yellow' killed your mother and your father went to prison for it."

The fear returned in full force as the sensation of loss overwhelmed Barry once again. His eyes darted back and forth as he desperately searched his memories. He remembered telling her that story earlier today, but that was all it felt like: a story. As impersonal as recalling the plot to a movie. The weight of lived experience behind it all but disappeared.

The only thing that felt real was the sight of watching his mother get murdered in front of him as a child, and again as an adult when he stopped-

"Thawne is still out there!" Barry remembered.

Barry threw the covers off himself and looked down at his foot, which was wrapped in gauze. He flexed his foot back and forth, and felt stiffness but no pain. He unwrapped the bandage and saw his foot was all healed up.

"What's going on?" Iris asked.

"Where's my suit?" Barry pressed on.

"Mr. Ramon has it back at his company. He didn't want it known that he was helping Kid Flash so he took them off you guys when the ambulance was on it's way. Now answer me, what is-"

The rest of her question was lost as Barry broke into super speed, retrieved his suit, and returned to Park Plaza. The once vibrant city landmark looked like it had been hit by several bulldozers, as dirt columns protruded from the lawn and chasms spotted the ground. Blood also caked the ground in two spots, and he remembered about Mari and Oliver.

"Real tragedy isn't it?" a familiar voice cackled from behind.

Barry turned around and glared at the Reverse Flash, or rather Thawne, as he was speaking with his cowl off.

"This is all your fault," Barry accused.

"How is this my fault? I didn't do anything."

"Liar! I saw you at the site where Wally got hurt. I bet you were the one to stab Wally just so you can get back at me. You probably told that archaeologist where to find me and keep me distracted."

"You mean that kids is your friend? Well that's good to know for later," Thawne sneered.

"No, you planned everything."

"That's where you're wrong! That stupid British guy barely let me out of that little birdcage you made for me a few minutes before…what's his name? Wally?… got hurt. I went there thinking it was you in a fight and I just wanted to watch you suffer. Just like you are now. No…this…this is all you _Flash_."

All Barry wanted to do was punch that vindictive smile right off of Thawne's face. But a part of him knew that his nemesis was telling the truth. All of this madness started way before Thawne was released. And with his memories of that other life almost completely gone, he knew he was out of time.

The only thing left to do was to make a choice: leave all his friends to die in this time, or allow his parents to die in another.

"We need to go back in time," Barry admitted to himself. "To that night."

"To do what?" Thawne asked.

"You know what I need you to do," Barry faltered.

"Yeah. But I want to hear you say it," Thawne prompted.

Barry took in a deep breath, and searched for the strength to say what's next.

"I need you to kill my mother."

"With pleasure."

"I hate you," Barry glared.

"And I hate you" Thawne retorted. "And I sometimes wonder which of us is right."

Thawne lowered his cowl and held up three fingers to countdown when to start running.

 **Three.**

 _Mom._

 **Two.**

 _Dad._

 **One.**

 _I'm sorry._


End file.
